Game



P 1940- o. H. CAROTHERS 2,214,952

' GAME Filgd Jan. 2. 1957 Patented. Sept. 17, 194G UNITED STATES PATENT QFFECE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in games.

One object of the invention is to provide an improved card game wherein the cards employed in 5 playing the game may be utilized for advertising purposes.

An important object of the invention is to provide an improved card game wherein each card has displayed thereon advertising indicia, which denotes the status or rank of that card in the game, whereby a most interesting game and also a unique and positive means. of advertising is provided.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved card game wherein each card is identified by a particular product, as for example, a food product, a drink, or an article of clothing; the purpose of the game being to assemble a groupof the cards, each card of said group being a difierent product, whereby all of the cards represent a complete dinner when food products are displayed on the card, or in the case of liquers and wines, cocktails or various drinks are represented, or when various articles of clothing are displayed, a complete wardrobe is represented by such assembled group; thereby providing a most interesting and fascinating game.

- Still another object of the invention is to provide the cards employed in playing a card game as an advertising medium, whereby more or less a permanent advertisement of the products displayed on the cards is placed in the home, the interest in the game inducing the cards to be kept rather than destroyed, as are the usual cir- 95 culars and other advertisements sent to the home.

A construction designed to carry, out the invention will be hereinafter described, together with other features of the invention.

The invention will be more readily understood from a reading of the following specification and by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which an example of the invention is shown, and wherein:

Figures 1 to 10 are face views of the cards used that card in the game. displayed on the card is preferably a picture of some commercial product, along with an advertising statement pertaining to the product. For instance, the card A shown in Figure 1, displays a salad which is a food product.

As above stated, the pictorial illustration on the card denotes that cards status or value in the game, but in order to aid the players to quickly determine the value of the card, said card may also have an identifying mark it which in the case of the card A is A-l. This mark could be eliminated for the pictorial illustration controls the value of the card and after the players become familiar therewith, the mark will probably never be referred to.

For the purposes of description and illustration, the cards will be described as advertising food products. Further, it will be assumed that the coloring on the card'A is red which indicates the suit of said card. A second card B; similar to the card A, has a pictorial illustration of a meat,

' such as steak thereon and also bears the. identification mark B--I. A third card C shown in Figure 3 displays a green vegetable and is marked C-!, a fourth card D carries the illustration of another vegetable and ismarked D-l, a fifth card E displays a drink, such 'as coffee, being marked E-|, while a sixth card F displays picture of a gelatine dessert and is marked F-l. All of these cards have a border of the same color, which is red, thereby indicating these are cards of the same suit, although each is of a different series. Therefore, it is obvious that there are six series, the A, B, C. D, E and F series, or the salad, meat, green vegetable, vegetable, drink, and dessert series.

Only one card of each series is shown in Figures 1 to 6, although there are four cards to each series. That is, there are four salads, four meats, four green Vegetables, etc. to make one suit. For illustrative purposes, all four of the dessert series of one suit is shown in Figures 6 to 9. As has been explained the card F, marked Fl, displays a gelatine dessert. The second card G of the series displays an illustration of a piece of pie and is marked F2 being second in value in the F, or dessert series. The card H carries a picture of a pudding and is marked F-3, denoting it is third ranking in the dessert series, while the card I, marked F'4 shows ice cream and is the fourth or lowest ranking card in the dessert series. Thus, in the dessert series, a gelatine dessert ranks above a pie, while the latter ranks above pudding, and pudding. in turn, is higher than The marking or' indicia ill) ice cream. It is pointed out that the illustration determines the value and the marks F-l etc. can be entirely eliminated.

Similarly, the other series each include four cards having various pictorial illustrations. The salad series has four different salads, the meats four difierent meats, etc. One complete suit, for instance the red suit, includes one card of each rank in each series. Since there are four cards to the series and six series, it is obvious that one suit includes 24 cards. In addition to the red suit, there are three other suits, the blue, the green and the yellow and each of these suits comprises the same number of cards, whereby the total number of cards in the deck is ninety-six. There are four suits determined by color, and each suit includes twenty-four cards; the twenty-four cards being six series of four cards each.

Obviously, since the cards of each suit bear.

diiferent identification indicia, each displays or advertises a different product. Therefore, twenty-four various products are advertised in one deck, and since there are four suits each product is displayed on four individual cards. The advertising on the card determines the status or value of the card and therefore, the attention of the player is drawn directly to such advertisement. The illustrations are not merely pictures of products but are an integral part of the game and, therefore, cannot pass unnoticed.

In playing the game, the purpose is to assemble as many complete dinners in each round of play as is possible, each dinner comprising one card of each series, that is, a salad card, a meat card, two vegetable cards, a drink card and a dessert card. The cards may be of different suits such as a salad card of the red suit and a meat card of the blue suit with the remaining cards completing the dinner of the yellow suit. Also, the fruit salad card, which may be A2 may be combined with the steak card B:, the vegetable cards C3 and Dl, the drink card E--3 and the dessert card F-l. In other words any card of the series is sufiicient for that course of the dinner. The values given the four kinds of Sal"- ads, four kinds of meat, etc. are merely for the purpose of determining the play.

The deaL-In playing the game, either 2, l, 6 or 8 players may participate and for descriptive purposes, it will be assumed four persons are participating. Three cards at a time are dealt to each player in turn until each has six cards in his hand and three stacks of six cards each in front of him on the table. Each stack of six on the table is face down except for the top card thereof which is face up so as to be visible to all other players. Thus, after the deal is complete, each player has six cards in his hand, three stacks of six each on the table in front of him, and the top card of each stack exposed.

The bid.The player to the left of the dealer has the privilege of the first bid. The bidding is to determine the suit which is to be Trump and thebid must be started with not less than 50, and each raise must be in units of 50, or a multiple thereof. The amount bid is marked up to the opposing side. The bidder names the number and color or suit which he is bidding, as 100 Red, and the other players may change the bid just as in the bidding rules of auction bridge.

The play-After the bidding is complete the trump suit has been named and assuming it to be red. then the twenty-four cards of the red I sembled counting one hundred points.

suit are trumps. The highest trump would be fruit salad, marked A-l, next highest tomae to and lettuce salad, marked A--2, and so on, down to the F---@ dessert which is ice-cream, the lowest card in the suit. The player who has won the bid then leads. He may lead a card either from his hand, or any one of the three exposed cards on any of the three stacks in front of him. If he leads from his hand, he must pick up one of the exposed cards to maintain his hand of six cards. However, if he leads one of the exposed cards, then he must expose the card next below in the stack which he vhas played from. After the first player has led, the others play in the same manner, either from their hand or from the stacks in front of them. Thus, each player has six cards in his hand at all times and three exposed cards in front of him until the stacks of cards on the table are exhausted, after which the cards are played from the hand to complete one round.

The play is similar to auction bridge, one card from each player comprising a trick. Assuming that the first player leads the steak card, marked Bl of the blue suit, with the red suit being trump, the other players must follow suit. If any one of the other players holds one of the salad cards in the blue suit, he can win the trick as the salad series is higher than the meat series. If any player is not suited he may trump by playing a card of the trump suit to Win the trick. The player winning the trick then leads and play continues in this manner until all cards are played. As each trick is won, it is placed in front of the player Winning the same.

The cunt.-After all of the cards have been played, one round is completed. The tricks are then counted and each trick counts 10 points. If two players are partners, their score is'come bined. The players then take the cards of the tricks which have been Won and assemble them into as many dinners as is possible. Partners may combine their tricks. Any system of scoring may be employed, such as each dinner as- Also, if desired, some cards such as the gelatine dessert and the coffee cards may be premium cards and their capture in a trick may count fifty points. The scoring may, however, vary. It is preferable that four deals or rounds constitute a game, although any number decided upon by the players would be suitable. The player or partners, having the highest score at the end of play are the Winners.

From the above, it will be seen that a most interesting and fascinating game is provided.

The value of the card in the game is indicated by the illustration on said card. In the description herewith, the salad series is the highest value, the meat series second highest, vegetable series next, etc. The four cards in each series are different with the salad series including fruit salad, lettuce and tomato salad, and two other kinds of salads, each salad having a particular rank or standing in the game. By providing the illustrations as an indication of the value or rank of the card, the attention of the player is concentrated on the illustration, which is an advertisement of the food product. In this manner, the thought conveyed by the advertisement is thoroughly impressed on the mind of the player. The cards will naturally be kept by the person who desires to play the game and theree fo e, the adver i ents at? more or less permanent and command attention each time the game is played.

As above stated 2, 4, 6 or 8 persons can play. When there are eight players, six cards are dealt to the player as a hand and two stacks of three cards each to each player. When six play, six cards are dealt each player as a hand and two stacks of five cards to said player. When two play, there Will be four stacks of six cards each to the right of each player, these being in addition to his own hand of six and three stacks of six. Each player plays his own hand and also the four stacks to his right.

Other types of games may be worked out with these cards, just as the various games played with ordinary playing cards, and the invention is not to be limited to the exact game shown. Another game, particularly adapted for children, is a game similar to Rummy. In this game, each player is dealt nine cards and the remainder of the deck is placed in a stack on the table face down. The top card is turned over to start another stack. Each player in his turn may draw one of the down cards of the stack or the topmost exposed card, and then discard one of his own cards to the exposed stack. The purpose of the game being to form as many dinners as possible before the entire stacks of cards have been gone through. When a player completes a dinner he exposes his six cards on the table and draws six new cards from the face down stack and play continues.

It is noted that the invention is shown as displaying food products. However, the cards could carry illustrations of whiskies and liquors and the purpose of the game be to assemble a group to form a cocktail. Similarly, articles of clothing could be displayed on the cards and a wardrobe assembled. Therefore, the invention is not to be limited to displaying any particular product as numerous products, which it is desired to advertise, may be used on the cards.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A dinner game including, a deck of cards comprising ,a ,pluralit'y of suits distinguished from each other by color, each suit consisting of a salad series, a meat series, a drink series, and a dessert series, the cards of which are distinguished from each other by the general class to which they belong, each card of one series having indicia displayed thereon which relates to its general class and in addition relates to one product of said general class, whereby the cards in each series are distinguished from each other by such indicia, the purpose of the game being to correlate the various series with a card from each series so as to assemble a dinner.

2. A dinner game including, a deck of cards comprising a plurality of suits distinguished from each other by color, each unit consisting of a salad series, a meat series, a drink series, and a dessert series, the cards of which are distinguished from each other by the general class to which they belong, each card of one series having indicia displayed thereon which relates to its general class and in addition relates to one product of said general class, whereby the cards in each series are distinguished from each other by such indicia, the purpose of the game being to correlate the various series so as to assemble a dinner, such correlation being accomplished by bidding and playing the cards, substantially as described.

OLIVER H, C'AR'OTHERS. 

